The work of a footballer has changed radically over the past twenty-five years. The pace of matches has changed, as have formations, player profiles and the way teams are built. But so much around football has changed too: the way the game is communicated, the relationship with supporters, the growing importance of data, and the entertainment industry that now surrounds every match. Gianni Grazioli has watched that transformation from a privileged position. After starting out as a sports journalist, he joined the Italian Footballers’ Association in 2001, where he is now General Manager. In a game where almost everything keeps changing, the AIC Gran Galà still follows one principle that has never changed: the best players of the season are chosen by the people who play the game themselves. “The jury is made up of more than 500 Serie A players, as well as coaches and referees,” says Grazioli. “It is a highly qualified jury. Without taking anything away from the other awards, those who live the game on the pitch have a different perspective. Today, judgements very often stop at numbers and statistics, but the best people to judge a professional are almost always his fellow players. They know what it means to have him alongside them or to face him as an opponent.”
You have spent more than twenty years at the Italian Footballers’ Association, watching football from a privileged position. What change has struck you most?
Football has changed profoundly. Twenty-five years ago, technique was the defining quality. Today, physical strength, running and intensity count for much more. Coaches ask for different qualities, and that has changed the profile of the player too. Some of the figures who shaped Italian football – the classic trequartista, for instance, or the player capable of beating his man consistently – have become increasingly rare. You think of players such as Roberto Baggio, Gianni Rivera, Giancarlo Antognoni, Bruno Conti and Gianfranco Zola. At the same time, the game has become much more collective. Players are expected to perform different roles and adapt constantly to the demands of a match. It is a natural evolution of football, and one that reflects changes in society too.
Why does an award decided directly by footballers still carry such particular weight?
Because the people who live the game on the pitch have a perspective nobody else can have. Without taking anything away from the other awards, I believe the best people to judge a professional are almost always his fellow players. It is true in football, as it is in many other fields. A footballer knows what it means to have a certain team-mate beside him, or to face a particular opponent week after week. The numbers matter, and they help us assess performances, but they do not tell the whole story. That is why a vote cast by those who live the game every day still carries a particular weight.
Football has changed off the pitch too. Today, a player exists within an ecosystem of social media, sponsors, digital content and constant exposure. How different is the profession from what it was twenty years ago?
Society has changed, and football has changed with it. Today, a professional operates within a much more complex entertainment industry than the one that existed in the past. Around footballers there is an entire system of communication, sponsors, media and new tools that simply did not exist twenty years ago. It is an evolution that has accompanied football’s growth as an economic and cultural phenomenon, and it has profoundly changed the profession too.
Is there anything that has not changed for someone dreaming of becoming a professional?
Yes: the sacrifice it takes to get there. Being a footballer remains one of the best jobs in the world, but nobody makes it by accident. I have known many boys who left home at 12, 13 or 14 to chase that dream. And despite everything they put into it, very few make it. The selection process is extremely tough, and most eventually have to find another path or continue playing in the amateur game.
You experienced football first as a journalist and then as an executive. Is there anything about the relationship between football and the media that you miss from those years?
The world has changed, and rightly so. When I started out as a journalist, you would go into the dressing room after a match and speak to players in a way that would be unthinkable today. Everything is much more regulated and organised now, partly because football has become a global industry. It was inevitable. Perhaps some of the spontaneity has gone from the relationship with the people who make the game, but the times have changed, and so have the demands of a sport that is worth far more today than it was then.
Players are playing more and more, while the number of competitions continues to grow. Is this sustainable?
It is an issue the Association has been following for some time, together with FIFPro and the European leagues. More competitions inevitably mean a heavier load of matches, training and travel, with the risk of more injuries. That is why dialogue with FIFA is essential if we are to find the right balance. If football continues to grow, so must the safeguards for players and the measures needed to protect the quality of the game.